Applicators are commonly used to apply liquid or gels to various surfaces. For example, in a surgical setting, an applicator may be used to apply a surgical preparation agent, such as Chlorhexidine Gluconate (“CHG”), to a patient's skin in preparation for surgery. An applicator may be equipped with a scrub brush and a mechanism to disperse or dispense the liquid onto the skin either directly or through the applicator. Various applicators may include or be configured to operate with a vial or cartridge of liquid that can be activated to allow the liquid to be dispensed onto the patient. Various ways of activating the cartridge and allowing dispersion of the liquid are presently known. For example, prior art solutions include breaking a frangible vial to release the liquid therein such that it can then be dispersed onto the patient.
Though suitable for at least some purposes, such approaches do not necessarily meet all needs of all application settings and/or all users. For example, the pressure required to break a frangible vial may be greater than certain users are capable of producing. Further, such a process often requires both hands. Additionally, such solutions may be relatively inefficient in terms of liquid dispersion as, depending on the location of a break, significant amounts of the liquid may remain in unbroken portions of the vial and broken shards of the frangible vial may actually inhibit flowing of the liquid. Further still, such solutions may fail to communicate to a user that the vial or cartridge is fully or optimally activated.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present teachings. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present teachings. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.